Much of Lorastine and Crossroads' attempts to evacuate Crysta had been met with failure. Either the residents laughed at them, shut the doors in their faces, or listened out of politeness but had done nothing to pack up their things and move out. Cross had returned a couple times during the week to continue her efforts, but it was becoming increasingly clear that no one was going to take her seriously. In fact some were now not even bothering to answer the door when she showed up. Still the young woman felt the need to keep trying. She couldn't sit by and let something like this occur without at least making an attempt to save those involved. If she managed to save even one person from being killed then that was still a good thing. She walked slowly down the dirt road towards the village that was doomed in her visions, looking more glum than hopeful.


As they continued their mission to try and evacuate, Lorastine seemed to get a bit put off by the reactions they were getting. "Why are they all so stubborn..." she muttered as she quickly looked around trying to find someone who didn't already turn them down.


Sitting next to the bridge sat an enormous blue scaled demi-human, staring out over the water with a fishing pole in hand. The creature no doubt stood out among the tiny village of Crysta, seemingly attempting to fish in its river.


"Well, do you think you would listen if someone came to our house and told us we had to leave?" Crossroads answered Lora, folding her arms and lowering her head in thought. She and Lora could be planning on convincing them to leave and then robbing their places of whatever they chose to abandon for all they knew. She really didn't have any other ideas though and she wished she did. "The best we can do is keep trying." She continued, lifting her head to look towards the direction they were heading. She paused in her steps at the sight of the creature up ahead fishing on the bridge. Was that a yoma she was seeing? After a moment of staring she decided it was probably not. Yoma probably didn't use fishing poles. Besides, it looked a little too goofy to be one. Crossroads couldn't help but continue staring at it though.


Lorastine dropped her head into her palms for a moment in frustration. "I suppose you're right.." she sighed before picking her head back up. "I just hope someone will listen to us." She took a glance at Crossroads for a moment to notice she was looking something. Out of curiosity she looked ahead to see what she saw. "What is that?" Lorastine asked quietly to Crossroads, not sure if that creature could hear them.


'What is that?' It wasn't the first time Steve heard those lines coming from somewhere near his presence. Before he could even consider looking in the direction of the voices he heard, he felt a tug on his pole. What would usually occur next is a fated struggle between man and fish, pulling as quickly and as fiercely as one can. But for Steve, he merely had to lift the pole out of the water to retrieve his catch: another tuna. Sutan hated tuna. The demi-human sighed and tossed the fish into his bucket, dropping another line into the water.


Crossroads shrugged. She really had no idea. There were all sorts of strange flora and fauna in this world and she hadn't quite learned them all yet. She thought she had the sentient races down though. Then again there were always new ones being pulled in apparently. "It might be a local? Maybe we should try talking to them?" It couldn't be any less friendly or stubborn than some of the ones they had talked to already.


Lorastine blinked for a second when Crossroads suggested talking to it. It seemed peaceful enough considering it was just simply fishing from the river like a normal person. "Uhm... ok." she said before taking a few steps closer to the fisherman. "Um... hi!" she called out with a little wave to get its attention hoping she wasn't making a mistake.


The aerial fortress above suddenly flashes pale blue for a quick moment, and seems to be abruptly gathering energy along its underside; blue wisps of light converge and flow into the rocky bottom of the island that holds the fortress itself, coalescing into a huge orb of equivalent-colored light that glows radiantly against the evening sky!


The voices grew louder, leading to an inevitable meeting. He turned towards the ladies and smiled, waving with his free hand. "Oh, hi. Just caught another tuna..seems like the fish are everywhere. How are you two doing today?" as he finished his greeting, Steve stopped and looked overhead. "...Well, that's different."


Crossroads tilted her head up towards the sky at the flash from the fortress which was clearly not indicating anything good that was about to happen. Were they too late? She closed her eyes, pulling up the visions from the near future. They flickered before her eyes quickly presenting her with the images of a light growing brighter until it blinded her. It was coming closer too. And she watched it as it did. Then suddenly, it made contact with the ground directly in front of them but before she could see beyond the moment of impact, the image shifted to that of the very same light, only streaking across the sky over the mountains. Then the vision faded. Crossroads stood frozen in terror for a moment as her mind frantically groped for the best course of action. Should they run? Should they try to force the people of Crysta out? How much time did they have? "Its going to fire." Her mouth went dry as she said the words and they came out almost hoarsely. “Run!”


Lorastine blinked in confused at the flash of light in the sky. "Run?! What about the villagers?!" she asked with urgency brought on by the events. She quickly looked at the town, "I can't let them get destroyed, I have to protect them!" she added as she reached for her soul gem.


Well at least they didn't run off screaming, thought Steve. "Destro--what? What are you two goin' on about? Is there some kind of danger here?" asked the demi-human, no longer paying attention to his fishing pole.


The light above charges and gathers, forming a horizon-brightening orb of light energy that hangs against the underside of the fortress... and then abruptly unleashes itself, breaking the quietness of the evening with a deafening "SHRREEEEEEE..~!" as a thunderous blast of energy is fired toward the Cleft below, cascading and streaking toward a small village at the southern end of Guardia!


It doesn't take long, and with a world-shaking, dome-shaped explosion of pure mana power, the light impacts the world and completely obliterates the town that was its target! Matter disintegrates at the heart of the blast, and debris, both land and construct, are ravaged in all directions!


RUN! DANGER! MOVE! Her mind was screaming these words to her and every fiber of her being was telling her that action to avoid this needed to be taken quickly because it was coming. Crossroads reached for Lora's arm thinking it strange how muddled and slow her movements felt when time was running out. And time did indeed run out just then.


Lorastine gasped as the streak of incoming destruction zeroed in on the town in front of her. The look of pure terror was frozen on her face as her eyes went wide as blinding light and deafening explosion rang in her ears.


Run. Steve really hated that word. He hadn't been capable of it for a very long time. There was no facing it, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And yet, Steve believed the opposite. "Don't take this the wrong way!" he shouted out as he quickly stood up and reached out to grasp the two women, holding them close to his chest while he faced his back towards the direction of the explosion. "Just hold on!" shouted the demi-human, closing his eyes and preparing for the pain he was about to experience.


The vast majority of the town is completely decimated from the sheer force of the blast, leaving every little remaining to even act as hazardous airborne material; most of what was caught in the blast was instantly vaporized, leaving a large crater where Crysta once was.


This was it. Crossroads had tempted fate for too long and now she was going to die here. This was it. It wasn't Ambience that was going to kill her, it was this! All because she stubbornly wanted to save people who wouldn't listen in the first place. She braced herself, squeezing her eyes shut. No sooner than she did, did she hear the creature’s voice and his arm flung around her. She didn't have time to object or think she merely listened to it, holding on tightly to it the best she could as the force of the shockwave hit.


Lorastine seemed frozen with fear holding onto her necklace as she was jerked into the hold of the fisherman. She didn't even react much aside from staring at his chest, her mind was trying to comprehend that this was actually happening not some bad dream. Eventually she snapped out of it as the rush of wind moving around the fisherman's giant body blew her hair around furiously and the noise hurt her sensitive ears.


While most of the material was caught up in the blast, a few fragments of debris ricocheted off of Steve's spiky shell, making the force pushed against him and the noise his only concerns… until a sharp rogue pole penetrated the backside of his neck, exiting out through the front of his chest in the space between Crossroads and Lorastine. "Urrrgh!" shouted the demi-human, keeping his grip on the ladies until the shockwave died down. And as it did, Steve released them and fell over to his right side. "Nng..guess I'm not..goin' campin'..you ladies alright..?" he asked quietly, surprising that his spinal cord is still intact. Other parts of his unshelled back had been assaulted by sharp pieces of debris, leaving him in a bleeding mess.


Crossroads simply stared, unmoving for a moment as her brain failed to register everything that was happening around her. At one point she had briefly thought that this was just another vision being displayed out before her. She had seen this view many times already, smelled the same scent of smoke and burning flesh in the air, and felt the heat from the fires. Crysta was still standing, and soon this vision would be over. Everything would just fade away soon and she would be back home, maybe doing dishes or waking up from a nap. None of this could have happened. Not now, not yet. And yet, almost cruelly the scene remained before her. It wasn't until the creature let go and fell that she snapped out of her stupor. "Y--yeah." She turned towards the creature in order to thank it, but then saw its condition, "Oh gods..." He wasn't okay. She knelt down beside it, eyes running over its wounds shortly following this movement she felt a familiar tingle. Something was lining up. Something Crossroads had seen before was happening. One of her visions was coming into fruition.


Lorastine seemed almost frozen still, but her head nodded almost hesitantly. "I- I'm fine..." she replied quietly. Crossroads' words grabbed her attention out of her dazed state. The creature that risked its life to save theirs was lying on its side covered in blood. "You're hurt!" she exclaimed even though it was quite obvious to everyone already.

Lorastine felt guilty she wasn't prepared they couldn't have prevented this. If only she had acted sooner, this kind soul wouldn’t have had to use his own body to protect them.


Crysta - Village Ruins

The smell of burning wood and thatch hangs thickly in the air over this once-

thriving village, where only smoldering, ember-scattered remnants of buildings

now remain. The chatter of young children and idle gossip of the farmland

population have been forever silenced, replaced with a smoking hole in the

ground that marks where the settlement used to be. Destruction in the form

of charred corpses and smashed buildings lay everywhere, including the remains

of a large windmill that has been reduced to a pile of cobbles and splinters.


In a non-spectacular fashion, two people suddenly blink into existence nearby, standing within the rubble of the village outskirts that once were; one of them is a slender lass with auburn hair and faint demon's horns protruding from her temples, accompanied with a thin black tail ending in a spade and clad with overalls. Without even taking a moment to check her surroundings, she instantly looks back up to where the fortress is, scanning the skies. "Shit. Why here, why here? Of ALL the confounded, cursed places!" She seems very unknowing of the other three nearby.


Gforte staggered a step forward, stopping himself in the middle of a retch by inhaling deeply for any semblance of clean air. When the smoke of the ruined town hits his lungs however, Gforte exploded into a fit of hacking and coughing, dropping to a knee and trying to cover his mouth as his lungs spasm uncontrollably.


"Good..that's..good.." whispered Steve in between breaths. The pool of blood was growing larger. "You gals..run along now..I'm just gonna..rest here a bit..can't take..Kent out campin'..while I'm sleepy, right?" The demi-human motioned to his bucket and backpack nearby before giving Lorastine and Crossroads a smile. He then closed his eyes, his breaths ceasing seconds later.


Crossroads placed a hand on the creatures shoulder, staring down in horror at the pole going through its body as it spoke. She only knew the most basic of first aid, was there anything that could be done about this? Too much blood and too grievous of an injury. "Thank you." She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to push back the tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't save a single person! Not even the one who was standing only a couple feet in front of her!


Lorastine wasn't about to lose another person again because she messed up. "No.. You can't die here." she quickly transformed into her wishborn form and held out her hands to attempt to heal him. All she was producing were miniature barriers that weren't doing anything to help. "I won't let someone else die again..." she said again, trying over and over for a power she didn't possess. Her light luminescent wings shown in the dirty dust filled world around it as he continued to create barrier after barrier after barrier that did nothing to help. She was starting to feel useless again and she hated that feeling.


The bag's contents consisted of typical outdoor supplies, though it would indicate that Steve didn't intend to be out for long. Crossroads and Lorastine would find a letter inside, however. The handwriting was a bit sloppy, but the contents could be read. "Dear Elenor, I've seen how everyone's been glaring at Kent. I know what happened at Nakajima, and I can see understand how they feel. But I believe in Kent..he's a lot like me.
So if you don't mind..I want to take him to the island of Pedan. I haven't told him why yet..but that's where it happened. Where I became this way. He needs some time away from everyone to think..and I feel like the perfect place to remember why we need to keep fighting is above the graves of my village. Don't worry, we won't be gone longer than a week. We'll be back in Shrike in time for whatever plans you have for the Paranormal Deliverance Force next.
And hey, maybe we'll find Mr. Jinsaka out there too.
- Sincerely, Steve."


The woman scowled hideously before stamping a foot angrily on the dirty ground, no real different than a child throwing a tantrum. "That's not fair! Arek, you standoffish prick! Where are you?!" Whoever she seems to be yelling at, though, either can't hear her or simply doesn't exist, as she gets nothing from it. Her shoulder slump, and she sighs. "Son of a bitch..." She turns around, with a snort; Gforte's actions catch her attention, then, and she frowns softly before at his behavior before acknowledging the others, perhaps in surprise. So, they were here, too. Not where she expected to find them, but perhaps it just made things that much easier for her.


Gforte fought back his coughing, eventually standing upright again and glaring around the area. He caught sight of the three other humans, and scowled, making his way over without much of a word. Upon reaching the man, he doesn't even bother to announce himself, instead he knelt down and checked the corpse's vitals before shaking his head and standing back up. "He's dead. Stop wasting your time and move on, we don't know if they're going to put a second shot here or not."


Gforte looked over to Lillian after saying his piece. "You gonna explain why you're screaming at the sky? We need to find that kid before they retarget. There's only so many population centers to choose from."


Crossroads rubbed at her eyes trying to stop the flow of her tears as Lora continued to try to save the creature that had saved them. She placed a hand on the hylian's shoulder, half to stop her, and half to brace her as she stood up onto her feet again. Since when did her body feel so heavy? "H-he's gone Lora." Her voice though strained was far more gentle than that of Gforte's. "We should look for any survivors." Her eyes fell upon the man briefly after saying this and she shot him a cold glare before before stepping passed him. She didn't allow her anger with him go beyond that though.


Lorastine kept trying until she felt Cross's hand on her shoulder. Her arms dropped and her wings seemed to fade slightly as they drooped downward. She fought back tears as her body slumped she lost someone else because she couldn't protect them. She nodded slowly and shook her head from tears as she stood back up and followed Crossroads. "Yes... survivors..." she said quietly as she stretched out her wings and took to the sky slowly. Her focus was a little away from flying so she stumbled in the air a bit, before she eventually leveled out. The smoke and smells of the destruction were much clearer at her elevation, it filled her lungs and caused her to choke, forcing her to cover her mouth as she flew.


Lillian looks between the lot of them for only a moment, before something apparently unseen grabs her attention. "My plan was to actually bring him to us, which would have saved on the discussion middle-man'ing. But it looks like..." She pauses, with a possibly-unnecessary sigh. "They aren't finished yet. The Fortress is preparing another attack... this time on Fa'diel. No doubt they are trying to get their point across." And indeed, high above, small charges of translucent blue energy were beginning the formation process once again along the underside of the fortress, in much the same way as the first.